


Forgotten Laughter

by Ticklishanimeboysaremylife



Category: The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Genre: Angst, F/M, Smut, Tickle fic, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:35:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28987200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ticklishanimeboysaremylife/pseuds/Ticklishanimeboysaremylife
Summary: June was forced to abandon many things from her past, but Nick helps her reclaim one of them.
Relationships: Nick Blaine/June Osborne | Offred
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Forgotten Laughter

These meetings were meant to be a secret. The lights were always shut off beforehand, the faint flickering of the moon the only illumination. June didn’t want to think about what would happen if they were found out. Nick might be alright. She wouldn’t. Normally, she tried not to think at all.

Closed off, though, in that room where the only thing they were was vulnerability and desire, it was easy to take risks. She found herself desperate now, her flesh a monstrous thing that now fed only wanted more and more until she could hardly stand it herself. Their noises grew louder, the sheets sometimes disbanded to the floor in favor of only the nakedness of one another’s bodies on each other. It should have been hard but it was so easy to give in, to let herself not think or worry for once. It scared her how easy it was. It shouldn’t have been this easy.

One night they were lying together after the act had been done. June was curled in Nick’s arms, not completely though, never completely in his grasp. Her hand traced his skin, trying to memorize the feel of him. She felt him shift underneath her and she glanced curiously over at him.

He didn’t say anything so she continued, assuming it was alright because she needed this and couldn’t bare for it to be wrong. Right now she found herself drawn to the sharp edges of his hip that protected the gentle skin beside, a soft little divot on his hardened body that she circled with her thump, wondering at the sight.

He shifted again, and this time a stifled grunt escaped him. “Nick?” she asked. It was dark but she thought she could detect a faint flush to his cheeks. It was still odd seeing it on men, that embarrassment that implied shame of any kind on their part, weird in the Commander and weirder still in Nick.

They both knew by now what was happening. Nick said nothing, did nothing to stop her. June thought about stopping the action, but a part of her was hungry for this thing from her past. It was such a simple thing, tickling, but it had been so long since it had been part of her normal routine that she had almost forgotten about it. Laughter in general still amazed her when it happened, casual and free. Now she experienced a desperate need for this, to hear him laugh in this way, maybe even see him smile. She continued her ministrations, though this time she added in more fingers, a gentle claw scratching unrelentingly at the area.

Nick’s body was shaking and she heard a soft gasp escape him. The sound prompted her further and she walked her fingers nimbly up his sides, pressing in with each step. He covered up the resulting noise with a cough, but when she reached the tops of his ribs she was greeted with the desperate whine of approaching laughter. Her nails were cut short, it was required to make housework more efficient, but they were still effective in scraping against the soft skin under his arms.

Nick giggled. Giggled. The sound was so foreign that for a moment June didn’t recognize it. When she did, she found herself desperate to hear more of it. They couldn’t be too conspicuous; these meetings were still meant to be a secret. Still, she traced fingers softly up and down his sides, wondering at the way goosebumps formed underneath her fingertips. When she grew tired of that she moved back to his armpits and listened to his quiet, stifled giggles till near morning.

This became their habit, this new thing. They would meet and make love like normal, but afterwards, when desire turned to quiet longing, she would indulge in this secret thing from their past until Nick could stand it no longer. She had grown addicted to his laughter, an innocent light in their world of hate and suppression. She heard it in all its different forms, from giggles to tired chuckling, from the startled squeak when she would find a new spot to the following snort of laughter when she pursued it further.

She found her favorite spot to be the vulnerable skin of his hips, still soft despite the muscles surrounding it. She loved the way the skin jumped and twitched under her fingers, the way he would inhale sharply when her nails first made contact, how he laughed freely and without hesitation when she kept at the spot. Sometimes she suspected that Nick had a deeper love for this than merely reminiscing over their past. Sometimes she suspected she did too. Neither of them spoke of it as reasons were not necessary. They did not know the reason for anything they did nowadays, only that they wanted to do it and that was enough. 

A couple weeks into their tradition, he decided to get her back. She was trailing soft touches over the unbearably sensitive skin of his inner thigh, Nick shuddering and choking back his laughter, when suddenly he grabbed her wrist and flipped them over so that he was straddling her. They stayed like that for a moment, the two of them staring up into each other’s wide eyes and flushed faces. The he released her wrists, giving her a look that implied she keep them above her head anyway. She swallowed in nervous excitement, and that was when she was reminded of how outrageously ticklish she was as well.

Unlike Nick, she was unable to keep quiet and burst into loud and boisterous laughter as rough fingers squeezed her hips and sides relentlessly. They both knew silence was key, so whenever it got too intense he would move somewhere else and start the whole process over again. It kept her on edge and constantly wanting more, and she loved him all the more for it.

It was a secret, this game they played, and while normally June hated secrets, she found she didn’t mind this one.

Because this one was all theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> Just finished reading through The Handmaid’s Tale in school and it was amazing! Had to provide some tk content, because it deserves so much more. This fic is primarily based off the events of the book, not the television show, just a head’s up (though the show is pretty good too!).   
> You can find me at my tumblr: https://happyandticklish.tumblr.com/


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